1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to product information management and, more particularly, to automated systems and methods for product information management.
2. General Background and Description of Related Art
Software-based products and services play a significant role in today's global economy. The advent of computer networks and modular software development techniques has led to the ability to variously combine product components to form many different product configurations. This ability permits a product provider to determine a product configuration, or set of product options, that closely matches the needs of a given customer or group of customers.
The modern business enterprise (e.g., company, corporation, joint venture, etc.) may include multiple geographically dispersed business units that each produce or contribute components or a portion of the organization's products. Multiple and discrepant sources of product information can result in varying definitions of the products sold, where they are sold and how they are sold. Associated product manuals and redundant efforts can result in excessive and unnecessary costs that reduce overall profitability. Furthermore, without a single source of information for existing products and systems, new products/new systems may be built from scratch instead of re-using existing products or product components.
Communication between sales channels and geographies may not avoid this duplication of effort absent a single source of information. To determine the optimum solution for their customers, an organization may benefit from shared institutional knowledge regarding particular product components. Such shared information may include product component functions, inter-component compatibility, availability dates, cost, support availability, and product features, for example.